White House blames China, Russia for Syria stalemate

8/2/12 1:43 PM EDT

In the wake of Kofi Annan's Thursday resignation as United Nations envoy to Syria, the White House sought to blame Russia and China for the lack of international action.

"His resignation highlights the failure in the United Nations Security Council of Russian and China to support meaningful resolutions against Assad that would have held Assad accountable for his failure to abide by the Annan plan. Those vetoes … were highly regrettable and placed both Russia and China on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of the Syrian people," White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

Annan, in an op-ed, blamed both President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin failure to reach an agreement on how to end the violence. Russia and China have blocked several U.N. resolutions aimed at quelling the violence.

"The president is grateful for Kofi Annan’s willingness to serve in this capacity and the efforts he made to achieve peace in Syria and a peaceful transition from the Assad regime," Carney said.

Carney also noted that the administration had committed another $12 million in humanitarian aid — on the heels of reports that the CIA and other elements of the U.S government were provided non-lethal aid to the anti regime forces.

"That brings the commitment from the United States to over $76 million," Carney noted.

In response to reports about opposition forces conducting summary executions, Carney said: "We strongly condemn summary executions by either side in Syria. We condemn actions like that."